**in response to the owners comment, we never met you. We didn't send food back nor did we request…read morenew food, and you, nor anyone else EVER brought me any additional drink on the house. I only had the one I paid for. There's no need to lie, bad days happen.
This is not a speakeasy, this is a restaurant cosplaying as a speakeasy. That may be a bit harsh, it's a speakeasy in training. Sure, it's got all of the speakeasy decor, blackout curtains over the windows and doors, and a big selection of pedestrian liquor but it's not quite there.
We went in on an early evening on Wed and there were maybe 5 other patrons in there. Our waitress was nice and brought us water to the high top. She brought us two food menus, and a specials menu. I asked for a bourbon list and she brought it; no prices on the list. Annoying.
On the specials menu there was a small section of manager recommended drinks and one was a Willet. The way it was written was confusing because it said it was both a 4 year and 14 year for $52, so I asked for clarification on the age statement. She took the menu to the barkeep, who confirmed it was a 14 year so I said yes I'll have that. A drink was brought to me, but I could tell from the taste that it was not what I ordered. I asked the waitress for the bottle, she asked the guy behind the bar for the bottle and he pulled down a willet pot still bottle (pot still is the entry level Willet and at best a 5 dollar pour, no where near what I asked for). I told her that I was given the wrong drink, then she approached the bar and between her, and the male and female bartenders they had a weird back and forth conversation. Then, finally they pulled down the bottle that I asked for, that was advertised, and gave me a pour of it. I asked to see the bottle and the waitress brought it over but held it instead of putting it on the table (it was a 13 year Willet, Paper Trail).
As we were about to order we were told that they reset the menu the very day before, with the focus of putting more love and care into the food. Feeling good about that, we ordered the French quarter catfish and the bourbon braised short ribs.
The corn that came with the short ribs tasted straight out of a store bought steamable pouch, and the "ribs" weren't ribs at all, just sliced meat. The only redeemable thing about the catfish dish was the aioli; the rice had no flavor, the corn was cold and hard, and the catfish was mostly breading. We both took a few bites and resigned.
I have been to many speakeasies around the US, and there are common themes: a much better selection of liquor; 95% of the bourbon were low tier bottles you can find in any liquor store for around $50. Also, when customers ask for the bottle, it isn't because we plan to steal it or drink from it, its because we're genuinely interested in the information on the labels. The quickest way to get people to stop spending money is to make them feel as if they can't be trusted touching a bottle.
Perhaps it was an off day for the staff and this wasn't a typical experience, but I won't go back.
